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Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) are guarded by members of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic forces during prisoners exchange in the village of Oleksandrivka outside Donetsk, Ukraine, February 20, 2016. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko *New York Times:* *Truce Unravels as Fighting Picks Up in Ukraine* MARYINKA, Ukraine — Though overshadowed by the war in Syria, fighting in eastern Ukraine has picked up sharply in recent weeks, residents along the front line, commanders and European monitors say. The resumption of hostilities in Ukraine, with exchanges of machine gun and mo...more »

If you obsessively follow the money trail in politics and the Open Secrets 2016 presidential race page is a regular stop, you noticed that in the last week, Hillary displaced Jeb as the top fundraiser of the cycle. She and her SuperPACs are now at $163,672,986-- surpassing his $150,284,096. Interestingly, she raised just under $15 million in January-- to Bernie's $21 million. Her Priorities USA superPAC brought in another $9.6 million, $3 million of it from one hedge fund billionaire, James Simons, a major Chuck Schumer/Steve Israel financier. Millions more came from Chicago crimi...more »

http://globalnews.ca/news/2523231/whats-killing-babies-in-canadas-north/?sf21156078=1 The infant mortality rate was 21.40/1,000 live births in 2012. Compare that to Greenland in 2014: Infant mortality rate: 9.42 deaths/1,000 live births male: 10.76 deaths/1,000 live births female: 8.02 deaths/1,000 live births Greenland's rate is too high but is considerably less than half that of Nunavut.

Kim Hong-Ji, Reuters *FOX News/Wall Street Journal*:* US, North Korea agreed to peace talks before latest nuclear test* Days before North Korea’s latest nuclear-bomb test, the Obama administration secretly agreed to talks to try to formally end the Korean War, dropping a longstanding condition that Pyongyang first take steps to curtail its nuclear arsenal. Instead the U.S. called for North Korea’s atomic-weapons program to be simply part of the talks. Pyongyang declined the counter-proposal, according to U.S. officials familiar with the events. Its nuclear test on Jan. 6 ended th...more »

[image: In this Feb. 10, 2016, photo, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. Grassley has a major say on whether President Barack Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court even gets a hearing. In the past week, Grassley, who is seeking a seventh term, has delivered a muddled message about the fate of any pick.] The fight over the makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court is spilling over into a second week, with most Senate Republicans uniting around the idea that the American people should be left to decide the future fate ...more »

[image: SALT LAKE CITY - OCTOBER 25: Former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) speaks at a rally for the Utah Democratic party October 25, 2008 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Several Utah Democrats express surprised that Hillary came to Utah to speak ten day before the national elections, since Utah is considered a heavily Republican state. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)] Why have liberals become so intolerant? They think nothing of denying someone as prominent as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from speaking on a college campus. They embrace acti...more »

*McClathcy News*: *Trump poised to step on the GOP accelerator* * GOP delegate selection process favors front-runners * Nevada caucus up next; Trump favored * He leads in 8 of the next states CHARLESTON, S.C. : Things sure look good for Donald Trump. The Republican presidential race expanded across the country Sunday, and polls show the real estate mogul ahead in eight of the dozen states voting in the next nine days. Trump has now won primaries in two very different states, center-right New Hampshire and evangelical-dominated South Carolina. And the Republican Party system of cho...more »

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, aside from being a tool of the tech industry, is a middle-of-the-road Democrat, not a Blue Dog or a corrupt New Dem, not a progressive, just a Democrat doing a job. Her district encompasses the southern and eastern half of San Jose from Japantown and Alum Rock and runs down the 101 Freeway past Morgan Hill, almost to Gilroy. Once upon a time she was an idealist and an activist. Lofgren is the same age as Hillary, 68, not as conservative but closer to her politically than to Bernie; she's one of Hillary's main California surrogates. She's been in Congress since wi...more »

*BBC*: *Syria conflict: Homs and Damascus bomb blasts kill 140* Bomb blasts in the Syrian cities of Homs and Damascus have left at least 140 people dead, monitors and state media say. At least four blasts struck the southern Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab, killing at least 83 people, state media said. Earlier in Homs, 57 people, mainly civilians, were killed in a double car bombing, a monitoring group reported. So-called Islamic State (IS) said it carried out the attacks in both cities. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said a "provisional agreement" has been rea...more »

“What's lighting up the Cigar Galaxy? M82, as this irregular galaxy is also known, was stirred up by a recent pass near large spiral galaxy M81. This doesn't fully explain the source of the red-glowing outwardly expanding gas, however. Evidence indicates that this gas is being driven out by the combined emerging particle winds of many stars, together creating a galactic superwind. *Click image for larger size.* The featured photographic mosaic highlights a specific color of red light strongly emitted by ionized hydrogen gas, showing detailed filaments of this gas. The filaments exte...more »

*“Hours And Seasons”* by Chet Raymo “I had this peripatetic lifestyle that took me between three different places of residence with the solstices and equinoxes. And so it is that I'm back in New England for the beginning of spring. My training in physics accustomed me to a Newtonian notion of time- a linear progression that moves equably from a distant past to an undefined future, every instant indistinguishable from any other. Works great for physics, but doesn't correspond to how I live my life. My personal time is circular, corresponding to the diurnal and annual cycles of Eart...more »

*“When Death Comes”* “When death comes like the hungry bear in autumn, when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse to buy me, and snaps his purse shut; when death comes like the measle-pox; when death comes like an iceberg between the shoulder blades, I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering; what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness? And therefore I look upon everything as a brotherhood and a sisterhood, and I look upon time as no more than an idea, and I consider eternity as another possibility, and I think of each life as a flower, as...more »

Kurds in the Middle East have been betrayed yet again by the big powers. Turkey and the U.S. use the Kurds in Syria , Turkey and Iraq for their own advantage. Kurds in Syria and Turkey are facing the prospect of the creation of a safe zone in their region, which will act as a front for refugees fleeing Syria, but in reality it will be an Islamic enclave in their midst, created by Turkey and her allies, which should put an end to Kurdish dreams of nationhood. Russia Insider reports: Kurds Shafted Once Again as Erdogan Plays Obama Like a Fiddle Erdogan Is No Lunatic, In Fact He Is a V...more »

*“Study: People Are Terrible At Sitting Alone With Their Thoughts. * *How About You?”* by Science Friday In 1654, scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote: “All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Now, there's some science behind that statement. *A recent study in the journal Science found that many people choose to self-administer an electrical shock rather than sit quietly in a room alone with their thoughts.* Erin Westgate, a PhD student in psychology at the University of Virginia, says she hadn’t seen Pascal’s quote before she a...more »

"People don't want their lives fixed. Nobody wants their problems solved. Their dramas. Their distractions. Their stories resolved. Their messes cleaned up. Because what would they have left? Just the big scary unknown." - Chuck Palahniuk *"Waking Up"* by Anthony De Mello "Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they don’t know it, are asleep. They’re born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep without ever waking up. They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we c...more »

"How We Support Our False Beliefs" by Patricia Donovan "In a study published in the the journal Sociological Inquiry, sociologists from four major research institutions focused on one of the most curious aspects of the 2004 presidential election: the strength and resilience of the belief among many Americans that Saddam Hussein was linked to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Although this belief influenced the 2004 election, they claim it did not result from pro-Bush propaganda, but from an urgent need by many Americans to seek justification for a war already in progress. The findings...more »

[image: Denny Hamlin (11) beats out Martin Truex Jr. (78) at the finish line to win the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016, in Daytona Beach, Fla.] DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- With a Hail Mary move, Denny Hamlin ended Joe Gibbs’ 23-year drought at the Daytona 500. Hamlin pulled out of line with a lap to go Sunday to make a run at his first Daytona...more »

*Title: Max Igan: Kakistocracy An Important Word Taken Out Of The Dictionary. Source: WeAreChange. Date Published: February 21, 2016. Description:* In this video Luke Rudkowski interviews philosopher, researcher and free thinking Max Igan. The two discuss words that have been taken out of the dictionary the problems we are facing in today's society and most importantly some optimism about the future.

Russian intelligence have claimed that ISIS, with the help of the Turkish intelligence services, have established a large network in Antalya, Turkey, to recruit people arriving in Turkey and train them to fight Russian troops operating in Syria. The group of recruiters consists of a Kyrgyzstan national called Abdullah; a native of Adygea named Azmet; a native of Tatarstan named Elnar; a Russian Federation national named Ilyas; an Azerbaijan national named Adil Aliev; and a native of Karachay-Cherkessia named Nizam. Voltairenet.org reports: They are led by a Russian Federation nation...more »

Syrian President Bashar Assad has told a Spanish newspaper that he believes that Turkey actively support ISIS and allow the terrorist regime to train potential recruits in their country. Assad spoke to newspaper El Pais, and the Syrian Times transcribed the entire text of the interview below: Question 1: You have recently allowed humanitarian aid to go into seven besieged areas. Some claim there are at least 486,000 people living in those areas, some for even more than three years. Why did this happen so late in the conflict? President Assad: Actually, it hasn’t happened recently; ...more »

Parents in Australia have rushed to get their children vaccinated against their will due to the federal government’s new ‘no jab, no pay’ law, which stops parents receiving Tax Benefit’s if their child remains unvaccinated after January 1st, 2016. The rush on vaccines has caused health departments to become inundated with calls from doctors and nurses who are requesting assistance in dealing with the high demand. Theage.com.au reports: Meanwhile, health departments are sending out increased vaccine supplies, a spokesman for federal Health Minister Sussan Ley confirmed. Statistical ...more »

The 1976 swine flu outbreak at Fort Dix in New Jersey, resulted in the death of a U.S. soldier. President Gerald Ford initiated a huge immunization effort that resulted in some 45 million Americans getting a swine flu vaccine. Over 500 people subsequently got a rare neurological illness called Guillain-Barre Syndrome, an auto-immune disease that affects the nervous system and can cause paralysis. Some observations on the current swine flu ‘crisis’: – It’s a global reprise of the US 1976 phony swine flu panic; – Just as happened in 1976, the virus is not a significant threat having v...more »

A think tank has warned that North Korea has the potential to launch a devastating EMP attack on U.S. power grids. An EMP attack could disrupt electrical and electronic systems needed for modern life and cause widespread chaos. The Sunday Express reports: The possibility of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, where a nuclear device is programmed to produce an electromagnetic wave with such force to destroy electronic systems, has plagued mankind since the Cold War, according to the Center for Security Policy. However fresh fears have emerged that North Korea could be the one to l...more »

President Obama and Chancellor Merkel during their press conference in the Chancellery. Photo: Bundesregierung/Denzel *Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz:* *Obama and Merkel Should Hang Their Heads in Shame as Syrian Tragedy Enters Sixth Year* *While Western leaders are not criminally responsible for the deaths of 470,000 Syrians, it has happened on their watch and to a large degree through their inaction.* In June 2009, writer Elie Wiesel visited the site of the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany, along with Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Barack Obama. Sixty-four years earlier...more »

UN peacekeepers monitor the Syrian side of the Israeli-Syrian border from an army post at Mount Bental in the Golan Heights last July (photo credit: Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90) *Haaretz*: *Israel Is Changing Its Approach to Syria War Amid Assad's Battleground Advances* Russian intervention has tilted the scales, and Jerusalem is concerned of a regime victory, which would be victory for Iran as well. To prevent that, Israeli officials believe West must intervene in favor of moderate rebels. Israel Is Changing Its Approach to Syria War Amid Assad's Battleground Advances Russian interve...more »

The U.S. government are planning to spend over $1 million of taxpayer’s money on a new initiative to encourage people to report their neighbours online if they spot them doing anything “suspicious”. The campaign encourages internet users to report potential online threats, and has been modelled on the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign initiated after the 9/11 attacks. Critics fear the scheme will target those with “anti-government” views. Thenewamerican.com reports: But while the campaign may seem like a positive step toward combating terrorism, it provides yet another ...more »

Researchers at the University of Southampton have said they have found a way of storing huge amounts of digital data on tiny glass data storage devices they have dubbed “superman crystals”. The crystals resemble the memory crystals seen in the Superman movies. The technology is capable of surviving billions of years, the scientists said this week. CNN Money reports: That’s a lot longer than your average computer hard drive. Sadly, the human inventions don’t look like the glittering crystals that Superman uses to generate holograms of people from his home planet. Instead, they take t...more »

ISIS militants have begun targeting Justin Bieber fans (Beliebers) in a Twitter campaign to brainwash young people in order to spread their propaganda messages. Using the #JustinBieber hashtag the terrorist organisation aim to target the pop star’s 76 million followers worldwide. Express.co.uk reports: Bieber is Twitter’s biggest attraction, boasting the most followers in the world. The hashtag is used hundreds, if not thousands of times an hour, and rockets to tens of thousands of times when the star is trending. The star’s fans are called Beliebers and many of them are under ten ...more »

London Mayor and Tory MP Boris Johnson has announced his plans to campaign for Britain to leave the European Union (EU), pitting himself against Prime Minister David Cameron who has urged Britons to vote “yes” in an upcoming in-out referendum this June. The BBC broke the news of Boris’ voting preference on Sunday, stating: “Mayor of London Boris Johnson is to campaign to leave the EU in the UK’s referendum, BBC understands”. Breitbart.com reports: UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage told Breitbart London exclusively this afternoon: “This is really good news. Boris is one of th...more »

[image: People gather in the aftermath of a multiple explosive attack in the Sayyida Zeinab area, 10 km south of Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a triple blast in the Shiite suburb, saying two IS fighters set off a car bomb before detonating their explosive belts and killing dozens.] BEIRUT (AP) -- Bombings claimed by the Islamic State group in the Syrian cities of Damascus and Homs killed nearly 130 people on Sunday, highlighting the threat posed by the extremists as the country’s warring factions fight for the northern city...more »

The only good attribute about General Sisi is that he's not the Muslim Brotherhood. That's it. He's not a visionary leader that many people were expecting and hoping. His country is reliant on Saudi aid, which won't last, is in lockstep with Israel's policy in Palestine, which is highly unpopular, and is on the brink of starving. Egypt is *"the world’s largest importer of wheat."* And to make matters worse this dumb ass is rolling with limousines and red carpets. Politically, Sisi is an idiot. His only stroke of genius was putting the people onto the streets and forcing the unpopu...more »

Have US, France & UK, by rejecting Russia’s UNSC draft resolution, just given Turkey the go-ahead to invade Syria? pic.twitter.com/qFXJOxDeyX — the Lemniscat (@theLemniscat) February 21, 2016 *Title: Russia 'regrets' UNSC rejection of resolution to rein in Turkish military in Syria. Source: CCTV News. Date Published: February 20, 2016. Description: * Russia on Saturday expressed regret that the United Nations Security Council rejected its bid to halt Turkish military actions in Syria and vowed to continue supporting government forces against "terrorists." Western powers on Friday...more »

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush announced on Saturday night that he would leave the 2016 Presidential race, after a disappointing finish in South Carolina. Donald Trump may have helped destroy Jeb’s candidacy by repeatedly challenging him on 9/11 by saying that the terror attack was the fault of his brother George W. Bush Or perhaps America has had enough of the Bush family… Press TV reports: Bush, who was once considered Republican frontrunner, finished in sixth place in the Iowa caucuses and in fourth places in New Hampshire and South Carolina. “I am proud of the campaig...more »

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/margaret-evans-lesbos-refugees-nobel-peace-prize-1.3456150 We glamorize war, even as we mourn the dead, we glamorize it as a kind of show biz. Perhaps the most obvious reminder of that was the most show biz general in history, General Patton. (He was also known as 'blood and guts' Patton. It was a label Patton hated because it it originated from soldiers who said that he spilled the enemies' blood and our (US soldiers) guts.) But he loved attention. That's why he always wore two revolvers. Wearing two plugged into the myth of the 'real men' of the cow...more »

[image: Migrants make their way to reach the borderline to Macedonia, near the northern Greek village of Idomeni, on Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016. Macedonia has closed its southern border with Greece to Afghan migrants, allowing only Iraqis and Syrians, according to a Greek police report.] IDOMENI, Greece (AP) -- Macedonia closed its border to Afghan migrants early Sunday, Greek police said, slowing the admission of refugees to a trickle and leaving a growing bottleneck of people stuck at their shared border. A Macedonian police spokeswoman...more »

[image: In this Dec. 16, 2014, file photo a man leaves the headquarters of Uber in San Francisco. Uber says Jason Dalton, the man suspected of going on a western Michigan shooting rampage that left six people dead was one of its drivers. Spokeswoman Nairi Hourdajian wouldn't say Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016 whether Dalton was driving for the ride-sharing service Saturday night when the shootings occurred outside an apartment complex, car dealership and restaurant in and around Kalamazoo.] KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) -- Uber said Sunday that the man suspected of going on a western Michigan shootin...more »

Libya’s interim government has slammed US airstrikes on a suspected ISIS training camp saying that the unsanctioned bombardment was a grave violation of its sovereignty. US warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes on an ISIS base in in Sabratha western Libya on Friday, targeting a leader linked to last year’s beach massacre in Tunisia. It was reported that around 30 to 40 Islamic State recruits were killed as well as two Serbian embassy staff who had been abducted by ISIS. RT reports: Libya’s interim government issued a statement saying that it “strongly condemns the airstrikes...more »

------------------------------ Subprime Mortgage Whistleblowers Warn Bigger Crash on Its Way Whistleblowers Richard Bowen and Michael Winston, along with UMKC's Bill Black, discuss the rampant fraud at Countrywide and Citigroup and how today's high foreclosure rates in states like Nevada could be a sign of what's to come - *February 21, 2016* Subprime Mortgage Whistleblowers Warn Bigger Crash on Its Way https://youtu.be/OO5DxgEBn8A?list=PLhvPB4lyc4dR3U93_5f1MmPbW74Jt0SX6 Bio ...more »

[image: Capture] Pic from news article: ‘'Venezuela Takes Dramatic Step Towards Food Rationing' *“The alleged goals of socialism were: the abolition of poverty, the achievement of general prosperity, progress, peace and human brotherhood. The results have been a terrifying failure—terrifying, that is, if one’s motive is men’s welfare. “Instead of prosperity, socialism has brought economic paralysis and/or collapse to every country that tried it. The degree of socialisation has been the degree of disaster. The consequences have varied accordingly. “In more fu...more »

Lots of questions in Nevada....did Hillary pull a fast one? There were numerous stories that Hillary brought supporters from other states who slipped into various caucus meetings without registering ...... Is this the Democratic Party in action? This is democracy? See reports from around Nevada *here *

The UK now has a new obligation "not to impede the implementation of legal acts directly linked to the functioning of the euro area and shall refrain from measures which could jeopardise the attainment of the objectives of EMU." The mirror of this provision, designed to protect UK, is weaker. Will David Cameron and George Osborne be asked to explain the UK's new obligations to euro zone? What do they entail? Will the pro EU BBC ask the question? https://t.co/fACH2qOHXq

Herr Trumpf, tweeting away on his iPhone6, is advocating a boycott of Apple because the company refuses to buckle under to the American National Security State and create a "back-door" so that Apple customers-- including Herr Trumpf-- can be spied on. That's too complicated for him and way too complicated for his fan boys. I have a feeling many of them aren't in the Apple target demos anyway. Even before Herr caught on there was some political hay to be made over the FBI's dispute with Apple, the homophobic, Grindr-using neo-fascist senator from Arkansas, Tom Cotton, was labeling ...more »

Residents of a small Texas town have dirty black water flowing out of their faucets. Crystal City has been plagued by corrupt city officials and is now facing a water crisis. On Wednesday morning resident’s found a foul-smelling black liquid flowing out of their water taps. CNN Edition reports: Black, stinky water unexpectedly flowed from faucets in a Crystal City on Wednesday. “It looked like black sludge. They were comparing it to oil — that dark,” resident Nora Flores-Guerrero told CNN affiliate KSAT. “We didn’t get a proper warning. They didn’t post anything or send out any type...more »

Too bad Agatha Christie was not a fellow guest, because there has to be foul play. By Steve Russell | The Rag Blog | February 21, 2016 AUSTIN — An obese 79-year-old man in a sedentary occupation goes to bed … finish reading Steve Russell : *METRO* | Scalia Files: The truth is out there

*The real trouble with Trump, says Jeffrey Tucker in this guest post? A word starting with ‘f.’* *We cannot treat the word simply as an empty insult; fascism is the most successful ideology of the last century, and it is alive to this day. ------------------------------ * *Waking Up to the Reality of Fascism**by Jeffrey Tucker* Donald Trump is on a roll, breaking new ground in uses for state power. Closing the internet? Sure. “We have to see Bill Gates and a lot of different people… We have to talk to them about, maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some wa...more »

A radioactive water leak has halted plans to re-start a reactor at a the Takahama nuclear power plant in western Japan. The leak comes amid a push to restart reactors after the catastrophic meltdown at Fukushima five years ago and would would have been the fourth to come online after a nationwide shutdown. Yahoo News reports: Kansai Electric Power said some 34 litres (8.8 gallons) of cooling water containing radioactive substances leaked out from the reactor at its Takahama plant 380 kilometres (236 miles) west of Tokyo. “Resumption procedures related to the incident have been suspe...more »

A record breaking storm is leaving a trail of destruction in Fiji. Cyclone Winston has killed at least six people and caused widespread damage. The most powerful storm recorded in the Southern Hemisphere has slammed into the islands, flattening villages and displacing populations. The Telegraph reports: Cyclone Winston bombarded the former British colony with 200mph winds on Saturday, destroying more than 150 houses in its Eastern region, which consists of Kadavu Province, Lau Province, Lomaiviti Province and Rotuma, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian ...more »

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama visit Fort Stewart. (White House photo) *Jessica Marmor Shaw, Marketwatch:* *Is America’s military the No. 1 fighting force in the world — or not?* For the first time in decades, Americans are evenly divided when asked if the U.S. has the No. 1 military in the world. A recent Gallup poll found that only 49% of Americans believe the U.S. has the best military — that’s the lowest percent recorded in the 23 years Gallup has been asking this question, and significantly lower than the 59% who said the U.S. is No. 1 one year ago, in F...more »

Russia's President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Ufa, Russia, July 10, 2015. PHOTO: REUTERS/BRICS/SCO PHOTOHOST/RIA NOVOSTI *New York Times:* *Russia Pulls Back From Cooperating With U.S. on Afghanistan* KABUL, Afghanistan — For all the conflicts in the world in which Washington is at odds with Moscow, the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan has been one area where the Obama administration’s interests and Russia’s concerns coincide. Disputes over the wars in Ukraine and Syria...more »

The part-time Mayor of London, part-time MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, and full-time self-promoter Boris Johnson shocked nobody earlier today when he came out for Vote Leave. It was said he'd been wrestling with the decision for some time. Yes, it's tough when a berth in Number 10 could be the prize for going against long-established and well known views. Indeed, as recently as two weeks ago today, Johnson was writing "the single market is of considerable value to many UK companies and consumers, and that leaving would cause at least some business uncertainty, while embroiling ...more »

At least 140 people are feared dead following multiple explosions in the cities of Homs and Damascus in Syria on Sunday. Four blasts struck the southern Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab, the location of Syria’s holiest Shia Muslim shrine, killing at least 83 people, state media said. Earlier in Homs, 57 people, mostly civilians, were killed in a double car bombing, a monitoring group reported. ISIS have claimed responsibility for both attacks according to reports RT reports: Four blasts hit al-Tin Street near the al-Sadr hospital, with two explosions being car bombs and the others ...more »

*Vic Bishop* - Swedish family encases an old summer cottage within a greenhouse to save on heating bill and connect with nature. The post Ingenious Nature House Redefines the Meaning of Living Connected to Nature appeared first on Waking Times.

*"Iraqis Celebrate as Threat of Third Bush Presidency is Over"* by Andy Borowitz BAGHDAD (The Borowitz Report)— "Thousands of Iraqis poured out into the streets to celebrate in the early hours of Sunday morning, as the threat of a third Bush Presidency was declared over at last. Iraqis, on edge about the prospect of another Bush in the White House since former Governor Jeb Bush entered the race last year, had been watching returns from the South Carolina primary with a mixture of anxiety and cautious optimism. Moments after the first evidence of Bush’s dismal finish began trickling ...more »

*Soren Dreier* - The difficult thing about babies is that they of course have no oral language so they can’t say what’s wrong. The post There’s More Going On in a Baby’s Consciousness Than We Are Aware Of appeared first on Waking Times.

*"War"* by Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy "Again war. Again sufferings, necessary to nobody, utterly uncalled for. Again fraud, again the universal stupefaction and brutalization of men. Men who are separated from each other by thousands of miles... are seeking out one another, in order to kill, torture, and mutilate each other in the cruelest way possible. What can this be? Is it a dream or a reality? Something is taking place which should not, cannot be; one longs to believe that it is a dream and to wake from it. But no, it is not a dream, it is a dreadful reality! How can so-called ...more »

*"What is the Point Spread on WW III?"* by Bob Moriarty "Boobus Americanus seems to utterly have lost the ability to think for themselves. So when the totally controlled US media mumbles on about how Al Assad needs replacing, no American could dream of asking, "Why? What did he do to us?" The answer, of course, is nothing. He didn't attack us, doesn't threaten us and is the democratically elected leader of Syria. You don't have to like him. I am an equal opportunity anarchist. I despise all governments equally. That said, I don't support military overthrow of legal, sovereign natio...more »

*CNN*: *B-1 bombers pulled from ISIS fight* (CNN)One of the biggest and most dependable U.S. weapons in the battle against ISIS in Syria and Iraq will be out of the fight for the time being, the commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command says. Lt. Gen. Charles Brown Jr. said the fleet of B-1 Lancer bombers had been sent back to the United States from their deployment in the Mideast. The four-engine bombers are due for upgrades to their cockpits, a process that will keep the jets stateside for an undetermined amount of time, Brown told reporters at the Pentagon via a video link f...more »

[image: Carrying Cross, Carry Your Cross, Christians, Christianity] What a mess our world is in. What a mess America is in. What a mess the church is in. Depressed yet? Isaiah 5:20 encapsulates, I believe, the cultural condition of much of the world, most of America and an...more »

Iraq's Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi listens to a translation during a news conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch *Reuters:* *Iraq's Abadi keeps Iran at arm's length in war on Islamic State* BAGHDAD (Reuters)- - As fighting in Iraq raged last summer, Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani came across unexpected opposition to his plans to defeat Islamic State. Soleimani is the commander of Iran's al-Quds brigade and has been a key figure in the fight against the Sunni Islamist group in Iraq. That fight has been led not by Iraq...more »

*Donald Trump just won South Carolina Primary* The Amerian electorate is desperate. Yes, truly desperate to hang on to the tattered vestiges of their once flourishing democracy. In spite of the low level of personal attack and street fighting to which this slate of candidates has sunk...they're still engaged...and voting for the chief pugilist, Donald Trump. Trump makes all sorts of erratic and dangerous statements...like questioning the governments official narrative on 911. While his concepts and beliefs about what happened and who was responsible for the deaths of over 3000 o...more »

Rubio, Cruz and Herr Trumpf have been smearing each other all week, all month, all year, and each of them insists the other two are shameless liars. And, for once, all three are telling the truth. So it would be a bonus to put up a truthful and trustworthy Democrat in November. Regardless how *you* feel about Hillary Clinton, honesty and trustworthiness are not among the traits she's most admired for. In fact, in yesterday's Nevada caucus, exit polls indicated that among people who valued those attributes-- and we're talking about a *Democratic* primary here, not about a survey of...more »

Trump will be the next US President. Hillary will squeak past Sanders solidifying her place as the staus quo. This victory will open up black and white divides withing the Democratic party.Trump will use the perceived overreach of Black lives to club her like a baby seal in the Election. The Republicans will control all three houses. It will be chaos and destruction. Old white men ruling over a nation filled with Hispanics and Blacks. Turkey is on a suicide mission, Ergegon is a warlord. The Kurds are playing the final hand of a long game. There will be a civil war in Turkey ...more »

*RT*:* ISIS shooting video exposed as footage from 'Medal of Honor'* A dramatic video shown on Iranian state TV, purporting to show a Hezbollah sniper shoot six ISIS soldiers, has been exposed as footage from the first-person shooter video game Medal of Honor. The video was shown on Iran’s state TV as well as shared on its website and across other Iranian media outlets, according to France 24. The men speaking Arabic in the video are portrayed as a team of crack Hezbollah snipers from Lebanon. *Read more* .... *More News On A Video Showing A Team Of Crack Hezbollah Sniper Shootin...more »

The row over George Galloway's involvement in Grassroots Out certainly proves one thing: that George Galloway is the UK politician who most accurately deserves that favourite BBC adjective for politicians it disapproves of: 'divisive'. Beside the walkout at the GO! launch itself, I don't think I've seen the pro-Leave commentariat 'below the line' at certain anti-EU sites quite so divided for a while. Even the commentariat at Raheem Kassam's *Breitbart London *were split asunder by his abrupt change of heart over the Galloway move. Whatever the merits of getting a powerful orator...more »

I'll be fairly brief (for once): This morning's *Sunday *on Radio 4 was its usual left-leaning, liberal, Catholic-obsessed self. Today we got: (1) An Irish atheist sociologist on how social change in Ireland is making the country more liberal and shrinking the influence of the Catholic Church. (2) A bit on sin where the interviewee said that 'sloth' should be understood to mean '*over*working' (!). (3) A complaint from an Anglican bishop that his Church is "abandoning the poor" for "a preferential option for the rich" and his call for the Church to become more socially active. ...more »

Boston Globe By Stephen Kinzer Coverage of the Syrian war will be remembered as one of the most shameful episodes in the history of the American press. Reporting about carnage in the ancient city of Aleppo is the latest reason why. For three years, violent militants have run Aleppo. Their rule began with a wave of repression. They posted notices warning residents: “Don’t send your children to school. If you do, we will get the backpack and you will get the coffin.” Then they destroyed factories, hoping that unemployed workers would have no recourse other than to become fighter...more »

People stand behind motorcycles and a van that were set alight by protesters during a demonstration by members of the Jat community in Rohtak, in the northern state of Haryana, India, February 21. STRINGER/REUTERS *Reuters*: *Indian army deploys to quell protests, water cut to Delhi* India deployed thousands of troops in a northern state on Sunday to quell protests that have severely hit water supplies to Delhi, a metropolis of more than 20 million, forced factories to close and killed 10 people. Rioting and looting in Haryana by the Jats, a rural caste, is symptomatic of increasi...more »

By Paul Homewood At least there are some scientists out there, who are not CO2 obsessed. From the Journal of Geography, Environment and Earth Science International last year: Is there a Quasi-60 years’ Oscillation of the Arctic Sea Ice Extent? A. Parker1* and C. D. Ollier2 1School of Engineering and Physical Science, […]

[image: These images provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center shows the three-month outlook for outlook temperature probability, left, and the three-month outlook for precipitation probability. Meteorologists see signs that the super El Nino is weakening ever so slightly, but caution that it will be months before people in the Americas will feel that. The World Meteorological Organization said Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016, that El Nino, a warming of the Pacific that changes weather worldwide, has passed its peak based on specific temp...more »

[image: rant-jpeg-b] Sunday again... And as expected, it is time again for my weekly rant... I honestly do NOT like being sick... I came down with what I thought was a nasty head cold at the beginning of the week, and then after a few days of getting a bit of rest and taking some over the counter medication, I thought I was feeling better.. But it was an illusion for by Friday I was again ill and at the same time having one heck of a time trying to sleep.... I have been listless over the last few days and again was trying to up my Vitamin C and D intakes as well as just lying down ...more »

By Paul Homewood http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/index.html As we know, NSIDC only publish Arctic sea ice data from 1979. As I have pointed out many times, this just happens to coincide with one of the coldest periods of the 20thC in the Arctic. For instance, in Iceland: https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2012/10/28/ghcn-temperature-adjustments-in-icelanda-closer-look-at-stykkisholmurpart-i/ Greenland: https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2016/02/19/maisie-confirms-arctic-sea-ice-remaining-stable-in-february/ […]

*Washington Post*: *Kerry announces ‘provisional agreement’ for truce in Syria* AMMAN, Jordan — Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Sunday that a “provisional agreement in principle” has been reached with Russia for a temporary truce in the Syrian civil war, and it could start within days. Kerry said he spoke Sunday morning to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for the second day in a row, and final details are be ironed out in a phone call between President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among the unsettled details are how a cease-fire would be enforced, and ho...more »

*February 21, 2016 *(Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - Accusations and denials continue to be traded between the West's NGO, Doctors Without Borders or officially Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and the Russian and Syrian government. Despite the gravity of the accusations by the West and MSF, which suggest "deliberate" and egregious war crimes, they have thus far produced no evidence. Not only have they produced no evidence, they openly admit that so far, they have none. Reuters in their article, "MSF seeks independent probe into bombing of Syria hospital," reveals as much by claiming (emph...more »

[image: Carrying Cross, Carry Your Cross, Christians, Christianity] Two weeks ago I discussed Christianophobia and defined what it is. Last week I documented who tends to have Christianophobia and one of their major goals. This week I want to look at evidence that Christianophobia results in real and...more »

[image: Cizhong Church Main - 900] Built by French missionaries in the mid- 19th century, Cizhong is a Catholic church located in the Yunnan province of China. The church's architecture is a mixture of French and Chinese styles. The people in the district of Cizhong are...more »

[image: Radiation sign - 900] Stolen radioactive material that raised fears last week that ISIS was building a radioactive “dirty bomb” has been found, Iraq announced Sunday. The “highly dangerous” material, which disappeared last November from a storage facility outside Basra belonging to a U.S....more »

*J. Matthew McInnis, National Interest*: *Iran Isn’t Sweating Saudi Intervention in Syria* The Saudi pledge on February 4 to contribute ground troops as part of an “accelerated” campaign in Syria was followed by similar announcements from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, along with hints that Qatar may also contribute symbolically. Small deployments of Gulf Arab forces are unlikely to significantly alter the battlefield in Syria, if they ever materialize. Could they, however, drive the complex proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia in Syria towards a more direct militar...more »

*Julian Pecquet, Al-Monitor*: *Why did the US really bomb Libya?* The Feb. 19 airstrike on an apparent Islamic State (IS) training camp near Sabratha isn’t the precursor to a sustained American air campaign in Libya, US officials have made clear. Instead, the pre-dawn bombing that killed some 40 suspected terrorists near the border with Tunisia appears to be better understood as a one-off operation aimed at protecting that fledgling democracy from militants who would plunge it into chaos. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the strike aimed to take out Tunisian national Noureddine ...more »

Rubio and Cruz have competed for the title of "most homophobic" in the Republican primary season. Rubio has a problem-- not just because of the high heeled booties, but because he was arrested when he was 19 in a closed Coconut Grove park that was frequently (exclusively) by elderly gay johns looking for gay-for-pay teenage men-- and Cruiz is winning this one. (Rubio isn't ceding the bigotry field though and his crackpot faith advisor says Rubio is as anti-gay as Cruz is.) There's a lot at stake. And it's not just the primitive hate-filled homophobes who make up a significant part...more »

*Christopher Groskopf, Quartz*: *The huge, hidden upside to low oil prices* Oil prices just keep falling and crashing into things on their way down. It seems like every day another country gets a bill for damages: Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Russia, the UK. While the global economy’s biggest players are reeling, there is a less visible group of people who stand to benefit tremendously: those without enough to eat. The security of the world’s poor is inseparable from the price they pay for food, especially the grains that constitute most of their diet. Oil prices are a significant factor...more »

[image: Ivanka Trump, the daughter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, looks on as her father addresses supporters in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016.] WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Latest on the 2016 presidential race as Republicans look back on South Carolina’s primary and ahead to Nevada’s caucuses on Tuesday and Democrats move past their Nevada contest and await a South Carolina faceoff on Saturday...more »

[image: The Supreme Court is seen in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016, as preparations are being made to honor Justice Antonin Scalia, who died over the weekend at age 79. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)] If President Barack Obama or a future Democratic successor were to replace late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia with a liberal, a host of prior high court decisions that favored conservatives could be revisited, and possibly be overruled completely. The...more »

Visitors pass models of fighter jets manufactured by China National Aero Technology Import and Export Corp. during the Singapore Airshow at Changi Exhibition Center on Wednesday. REUTERS *Defense News:* *China defense companies remain secretive* *China defense companies exhibit more professionally, though much remains secretive* SINGAPORE — There was a time not long ago when Chinese defense companies exhibiting at international defense shows would provide no information about their products to journalists, or for that matter, even customers. A model of a new fighter aircraft or an...more »

The last post ended with me writing, regarding the alleged 'uncertainty' a Brexit would lead to: I had to smile at Ben Thompson *[BBC Breakfast host] *saying "We talk a lot about that uncertainty, the influence it has on business". You can say that again, Ben! Well here's another exchange from this morning's *BBC Breakfast *between Naga Munchetty and Professor Jon Tonge of Liverpool University: *Naga*: We focus a lot on the divisions within parties. But we should also look at the alliances across parties, and there are some reeeaaally unlikely bed fellows: George Galloway and N...more »

Another snapshot. *BBC Breakfast *interviewed a couple of businessmen from small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) about the EU referendum - one a Leave supporter, the other a Remain supporter (both of whom did well). I thought I'd record it and check whether that balance was reflected in the questions put by the BBC presenters. Here are the questions: *Questions put to the pro-Remain businessman*: *(by Ben Thompson, BBC)* Marcus, you are clearly reassured by what you've heard from the Prime Minister. Reforms, a reformed EU and one you still very much want to be part of it. ...more »

U.S. Pacific Air Forces has a new commander General Lori Robinson. She is the first female Component Major Command Commander. DVIDS *Japan Times/Bloomberg*: *China closing tech gap with U.S., but American pilots still have edge: top Pacific air commander* SINGAPORE – China’s military is closing the technology gap with the U.S., though the experience of America’s pilots still gives them an “unbelievably huge” edge, according to the U.S. Pacific Air Forces chief. Gen. Lori Robinson, in Singapore to attend the country’s air show, said she felt assured that Chinese pilots would act pro...more »

U.S satellite images surfaced this week showing advanced air defence missile system on the Chinese controlled Woody Island in the Paracels *South China Morning Post:* *China ‘should fire shots at US warships near disputed islands, or even ram them to teach them a lesson’* Getting tough with trespassers in the South China Sea would be good for peace in the disputed region, says Communist Party mouthpiece Chinese forces should fire warning shots or even deliberately collide with American warships that sail close to the Paracel Islands in the disputed South China Sea, according to a c...more »

The San Bernardino County government put out a tweet on Friday, saying that the FBI told their staff to reset the iCloud password of Syed Farook’s Apple account. Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were implicated in the San Bernardino shootings of December 2015 in which 14 people lost their lives. If true, then it means that the FBI was not honest for its reasons for wanting backdoor access to Apple iPhones, by forcing the company to compromise its encryption security. The FBI had a chance to examine Farook’s account before the password was reset before considering breaking into a...more »

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan addresses the audience during a meeting in Ankara, Turkey, December 3, 2015. REUTERS/MURAT CETINMUHURDAR/PRESIDENTIAL PALACE PRESS OFFICE/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS *Liz Sly, Washington Post*: *Turkey’s increasingly desperate predicament poses real dangers* ISTANBUL — Turkey is confronting what amounts to a strategic nightmare as bombs explode in its cities, its enemies encroach on its borders and its allies seemingly snub its demands. As recently as four years ago, Turkey appeared poised to become one of the biggest winners of the Arab Spring, an ascend...more »

About a month ago, I received an email from a film producer: Netflix is making a documentary about Americans who moved to Canada for political reasons, and asked if Allan and I would be interviewed. We spent a long time chatting with her, before being told that the film is being shot in Vancouver and we're not in it. Oh well. A few days later, a writer called about a story for *The Guardian*, asking much the same questions. That interview resulted in this article: 'An alternative exists': the US citizens who vowed to flee to Canada – and did. This writer didn't use much of my interv...more »

[image: In this Feb. 14, 2015, file photo, Edward Snowden appears on a live video feed broadcast from Moscow at an event sponsored by ACLU Hawaii in Honolulu. Speaking via Skype from Russia, Snowden told an audience of supporters in New Hampshire on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016, that he is willing to be extradited to the United States if the federal government would guarantee he would get a fair trial. The former National Security Agency contractor in 2013 leaked details of a secret government eavesdropping program and left the country. He faces U.S. charges that could land him in prison...more »

[image: In this photo taken on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016, soldiers from the Syrian army carry a rocket to fire at Islamic State group positions in the province of Raqqa, Syria. In recent weeks, Syrian government forces captured dozens of villages and towns across the country.] AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that a “provisional agreement” has been reached on a cease-fire that could begin in the next few days in Syria’s five-year civil war. Kerry said he spoke in the...more »

[image: Clerk Kim Davis Switching Parties to Become a Republican] National Journal's political editor says the Republican Party is essentially split in two, and it's "unlikely" these factions will unite to win the general election. "The Republican Party is like two parties in one right now. You have the Trump...more »

R. v. Freckleton, 2016 ONCA 130: [2] In sentencing, an offender's individual circumstances must be taken into account. Thus, the fact that the offender faces the collateral consequence of deportation is a relevant factor: see *R. v. Hamilton *(2004), 72 O.R. (3d) 1 (C.A.), at para. 158. An appellate court may intervene to vary a sentence that falls within the range of fit sentences if the sentencing judge did not take into account that the sentence could result in the deportation of the offender. However, the sentence ultimately imposed must still be proportionate to the gr...more »

*Tackling the new intolerance in British universities* If you were in any doubt that most students are sick to death of campus censorship, of having their horizons narrowed and their intellects coddled, than spiked’s first-of-its-kind conference, ‘The New Intolerance on Campus’, will have put your criticisms to bed. Attended by over 300 students, academics and members of the public, and watched by thousands around the world via the livestream, the conference raised the stakes in the free-speech fightback. For as long as it has existed, spiked has made the case for free speech on ...more »

*"The Paradox Of Time"* "Time goes, you say? Ah no! Alas, Time stays, we go; Or else, were this not so, What need to chain the hours, For Youth were always ours? Time goes, you say?-ah no! Ours is the eyes' deceit Of men whose flying feet Lead through some landscape low; We pass, and think we see The earth's fixed surface flee:- Alas, Time stays,-we go! Once in the days of old, Your locks were curling gold, And mine had shamed the crow. Now, in the self-same stage, We've reached the silver age; Time goes, you say?-ah no! Once, when my voice was strong, I filled the w...more »

*The enigmatic Arctic* *Warmists have long been fascinated by the temperature fluctuations of the Arctic -- mainly because it is the only part of the globe that has warmed up significantly in recent years. They hint that Arctic warming proves global warming but fail to explain how. The whole point of the matter is surely that the Arctic warming is NOT global so how is it a proof of something global?In fact, one could argue that Arctic warming is so anomalous that it should be excluded from global figures. That would be an "adjustment" or "correction" well in line w...more »

[image: transgender - 900] The winner of a transgender beauty contest in the United Kingdom has lost her title after organizers ruled that he was simply a drag queen and not transgender enough. According to The Telegraph, 22-year-old Jai Dara Latto was named Miss...more »

"Time passes in moments. Moments which, rushing past, define the path of a life, just as surely as they lead towards its end. How rarely do we stop to examine that path, to see the reasons why all things happen? To consider whether the path we take in life is our own making, or simply one into which we drift with eyes closed? But what if we could stop, pause to take stock of each precious moment before it passes? Might we then see the endless forks in the road that have shaped a life? And, seeing those choices, choose another path?" - Gillian Anderson as "Dana Scully", "The X-Files"

*Source: Planeta UFODate: 02.21.2016* *Cuba: A UFO Over Matanzas Bay* *By Orestes Girbau* It was the morning of the 5th of July of 1959. At 9:30 a troop of Boy Scouts who had set out from the Versailles district, walked along the nearby coastline. There were a total of more than 30 people clustered to one edge of the shore, while their guides were relatively nearby. The troop’s exact position was nearly facing L’Amours Beach. It was a clear, sunny, and virtually cloudless morning. Unexpectedly, shouts came from the troop leaders. “Look at that!” The formation broke up and all ran...more »

*"War"* by Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy "Again war. Again sufferings, necessary to nobody, utterly uncalled for. Again fraud, again the universal stupefaction and brutalization of men. Men who are separated from each other by thousands of miles... are seeking out one another, in order to kill, torture, and mutilate each other in the cruelest way possible. What can this be? Is it a dream or a reality? Something is taking place which should not, cannot be; one longs to believe that it is a dream and to wake from it. But no, it is not a dream, it is a dreadful reality! How can so-called ...more »

This week a number of observers have been focusing on the place and influence that the MSM, in particular print media, have upon our democracy. More particularly our 'need to know' what is happening in our various governmental institutions so that we the public can hold them to account and ensure that they are respecting our democracy and following the rules and keeping us informed regarding the decisions they are making on our behalf. Much has been said of late on this subject and concern that the loss and/ or amalgamation of various print media is seriously impacting our ability ...more »

Given that I'm always banging on about *Dateline London*, it really wouldn't do to let this week's delayed edition pass without a post. Given *Dateline*'s long record of stacking its panels with pro-EU guests (as I've detailed* ad nauseum* over the years), I will admit I was expecting a parade of the programme's most partisan Eurofanatical regulars (Marc Roche, Annalisa Piras, Polly Toynbee, etc) but instead we got two firm Outers - Janet Daley of the *Sunday Telegraph* and former Kremlin advisor Alexander Nekrassov...and the other two guests simply weren't anywhere near as outspo...more »

https://johnhively.wordpress.com/ In a recent op-ed in the *Wall Street Journal, *Charles Murray wrote: Another characteristic of the new upper class — and something new under the American sun — is their easy acceptance of being members of an upper class and their condescension toward ordinary Americans. Try using “redneck” in a conversation with your highly educated friends and see if it triggers any of the nervousness that accompanies other ethnic slurs. Refer to “flyover country” and consider the implications when no one asks, “What d...more »

NASA have released tape recordings that show the crew of an Apollo 10 mission encountering unexplained music-like radio transmissions coming through their headsets when they travelled the far side of the moon. In 1969, two months before Apollo 11’s historic landing on the moon, Apollo 10 entered lunar orbit, which included passing across the far side of the moon, when the crew heard “strange, otherworldly music” through their headsets. For the last 40-years, the crew kept this startling revelation a secret until now. Huffingtonpost.com reports: Almost four decades went by before lo...more »

Japanese citizens have been kept in dark about the Fukushima disaster and the extremely high levels of radiation currently destroying their health – claims nuclear expert, Linda Pentz Gunter. Gunter says that the government in Japan are deliberately covering-up the magnitude of radiation poisoning in the country – which she says are twenty times above ‘safe levels’. Theecologist.org reports: Soon, many Fukushima refugees will be forced to return home to endure damaging levels of radiation. Dr. Tetsunari Iida is the founder and executive director of the Institute for Sustainable Ener...more »

Meirion Jones's citing of a couple of examples of apparently pro-Tory bias in the BBC's coverage of the junior doctors' strike reminds me that Radio 4's *Feedback *also covered the story - especially how it was reported on *Today.* The complaints cited by Roger Bolton weren't, however, just from critics of the government. Critics of the BMA also accused the BBC of bias. Ergo: complaints from both sides! We often joke about BBC editors going on programmes like *Feedback *and *Newswatch *and trotting out their old, favourite, tired and easily-debunked argument, "We get complaints f...more »

Clinton had been hoping for a big two-digit win in Nevada to substantiate her supposed support from the Latino community, but instead is again securing a rather disappointing near-tie, as was the case in Iowa. “Nevada was supposed to be a state "tailor made" for the Clinton campaign, and a place she once led by almost 40 points,” Sanders wrote to his supporters, claiming that getting “roughly

American political analyst Dr. Kevin Barrett has said that the entire political establishment in the U.S. have served Israel for decades, and will continue to do so in the future – regardless of who is elected President in the 2016 elections. Barrett says that if Republican candidate Ted Cruz gets elected he will ignore Palestinians completely, offering Israel unwavering support in a show of “shameful subservience”. Presstv.com reports: Speaking at a town hall meeting in South Carolina on Friday night, Cruz said, “Let me tell you this: As president, I have no intention of being ne...more »

*Newsnight*'s former head of investigations Meirion Jones has had quite a good press in the past year from right-wingers interested in the topic of BBC bias, doubtless due to his very strong criticisms of the BBC for 'forcing him out' (along with other BBC whistle-blowers) in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal. Now it's the turn of left-wing critics of the BBC to laud the former BBC Man. They are now busily tweeting about his article on *Open Democracy*'s *Our Beeb *page: *The BBC, Savile and Investigations.* Here's the part of his piece which relates to the question, 'Is the BB...more »

Here's something I learned today, that old hands at 'BBC watching' might find interesting - even though as she's no longer a BBC journalist, this isn't really directly related to the issue of BBC bias. If you read through the list of members of the Advisory board of the pro-EU Centre for European Reform think tank, you'll find many an expected pro-EU name: Roland Rudd, Lord Robertson, Timothy Garton Ash, Sir Richard Lambert, Lord Haskins, etc. I was a little surprised though to see the name of a former BBC economics editor there too: namely Chief Market Strategist for the UK and Eu...more »

[image: Savage's Station Field Hospital - 900] Savage Station, Va. Field hospital after the battle of June 27. Photograph from the main eastern theater of war, the Peninsular Campaign, May-August 1862.

The PRC rep office in Houston sent around these letters written in substandard English to a Congressman from Mississippi, Hank Zruber, who posted them to his Facebook site. Zruber wrote: UMM! Chinese Govt asking me to stop supporting democratic Taiwan. Context: Annually, I make the time/go out of my way to coauthor supporting resolutions and meet the visiting Taiwanese Delegation! Why: I hold dear that every man has the God given right to live under the freedoms of religion/speech regardless of national origin, etc. Conflict is not intended nor desired. But, we should engage China ...more »

I have finally played with the raw data from the first LIGO gravitational wave, GW150914. Everyone who can code is invited to do the same. It's a lot of fun. Although I had to learn some Python for the Higgs Kaggle contest, my preferred tool is Wolfram Mathematica – whose full online version was just completed a week ago. What should you do to evaluate the LIGO raw data yourself? Download all the datasets and Python code from the official LIGO tutorial page. Or follow Nicholas Lincoln's blog – he is a data analyst who has no official physics background, as far as I understand. ...more »

(Click on Image to Enlarge) *Zero Hedge:* *Mapping Russia's Syrian Air Campaign: February Strikes At A Glance* *Russia and Iran are on a roll in Syria.* Just two months ago, it appeared as though Moscow was indeed set to get bogged down in the conflict as the Russian Defense Ministry’s daily airstrike video dump seemed to be at odds with a lack of concrete results on the ground. Then, suddenly, Hezbollah had surrounded Aleppo. To be sure, the offensive was telegraphed months in advance (we previewed the assault in October). But the public generally failed to put the pieces togeth...more »

[image: Police Line- 90000] Police are conducting an urgent hunt for a man who’s gone on a random shooting rampage Saturday evening in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. Six people have been killed thus far, Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas confirmed to Fox 17. Several others...more »

* "What I've Learned" * by Kathy Hansen "I've learned that you can get by on charm for about 15 minutes. After that, you'd better know something. I've learned that you shouldn't compare yourself to the best others can do, but to the best you can do. I've learned that it's not what happens to people that's important, it's what they do about it. I've learned that you can do something in an instant that will give you a heartache for life. I've learned that no matter how thin you slice it, there are always two sides. I've learned that it's taking me a long time to become the person I ...more »

*"The Gift"* "Time wants to show you a different country. It's the one that your life conceals, the one waiting outside when curtains are drawn, the one Grandmother hinted at in her crochet design, the one almost found over at the edge of the music, after the sermon. It's the way life is, and you have it, a few years given. You get killed now and then, violated in various ways. (And sometimes it's turn about.) You get tired of that. Long-suffering, you wait and pray, and maybe good things come - maybe the hurt slackens and you hardly feel it any more. You have a breath without pain. It i...more »

"The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can, pursuing it with eager feet, until it joins some larger way where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say." - J.R.R. Tolkien

[image: Legal Rights or Not, There’s Something Wrong When Satanists and Atheists Come to Pray at Governmental Meetings] Yesterday, my colleague Rachel Alexander published an article about Satanists and atheists seeking to pray at governmental meetings: It was a pick-your-poison strategy: Either accept the Satanist prayer or strip regular prayers from the meetings altogether, one of [the Satanists' spokespersons]...more »

After ruling out the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet last fall as a possible replacement for the aging CF-18s, the Liberals now appear to be leaving the door open to the controversial jet. YURI GRIPAS / REUTERS FILE PHOTO *Ottawa Citizen*: *F-35 jet back on Ottawa’s radar screen* It’s controversial, costly and, now it seems, back on Ottawa’s radar as a possible pick for Canada’s air force. OTTAWA—It’s controversial, costly and apparently back on Ottawa’s radar as a possible pick for Canada’s air force. After ruling out the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet last fall as a possible...more »

Thursday evening at the Las Vegas town hall, Nevada Democrats boo-ed Hillary Clinton when she accused Bernie Sanders of not really being a Democrat (video above). That's an interesting statement and it depends what you mean by "a Democrat." On one level she's correct. Bernie is an independent who caucuses with the Democratic Party. He founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus and was elected its first chairman. When the Democratic Party used to run candidates against him, they were also right-of-center establishment candidates who, like Hillary, were, at best, better than Repu...more »

Reuters *Wojciech Moskwa & Dorota Bartyzel, Bloomberg:* *Walesa Legend Now a Spy Story as Polish History Is Rewritten* * Government sees itself as Poland's savior from corrupt elites * Walesa denies accusations he was paid communist-era informant In the new Poland, yesterday’s heroes are being turned into today’s villains. It means that Lech Walesa, the country’s most famous politician and freedom fighter, is a traitor and the 1989 uprising that ushered in democracy and a market economy was little more than a conspiracy. At least, that’s the new Polish government’s narrative after...more »

[image: Jeb Bush Quits - 90000] COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Republican Jeb Bush ended his campaign for the presidency Saturday after a disappointing finish in South Carolina, acknowledging a failure to harness the hopes of Republican voters angry at the political establishment. The former Florida governor...more »

After ruling out the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet last fall as a possible replacement for the aging CF-18s, the Liberals now appear to be leaving the door open to the controversial jet. YURI GRIPAS / REUTERS FILE PHOTO *Ottawa Citizen*: *F-35 jet back on Ottawa’s radar screen* It’s controversial, costly and, now it seems, back on Ottawa’s radar as a possible pick for Canada’s air force. OTTAWA—It’s controversial, costly and apparently back on Ottawa’s radar as a possible pick for Canada’s air force. After ruling out the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet last fall as a possible...more »

*VOA:* *Ukraine Nationalists Attack Russian Banks on Uprising Anniversary* Ukraine nationalist protesters threw rocks and smashed windows at two Russian banks in central Kyiv on Saturday as they marked the second anniversary of a deadly uprising that toppled the country's Russian-leaning president. On a day when hundreds gathered in the city's main square to commemorate the anniversary, some demonstrators targeted a branch of Russia's Sberbank and Alfa banks, blocking traffic and throwing paint on the two facilities. Local news reports said the violence erupted despite the presen...more »

President Obama's policy in Syria is said by his critics to have been 'half-hearted' Photo: REUTERS/Mike Theiler *The Telegraph:* *US-backed militia groups now fighting each other in Syria* *President Barack Obama's confused strategy in Syria means towns are now being fought over by different US-backed groups* If anywhere can show the consequences of American foreign policy under President Barack Obama, it may be the small town of Marea, north of Aleppo. In the course of the last five years, it has seen Assad regime tanks roll through from the south, firing shells through its house...more »

*Tyler Rogoway, FoxTrot Alpha:** Here Is What All Those Colored Shirts Mean On An Aircraft Carrier's Deck* A U.S. Navy supercarrier’s 5,500-plus person crew exists to do one thing: to consistently put aircraft into the air and safely recover them after they launch. In order to make this happen, there exists a small army of flight deck facilitators, and each individual has their own role primarily designated by the color of the shirt they wear. Life on the flight deck is dangerous and taxing. Piercing sounds, walls of hot exhaust, spinning propellers and guzzling jet air intakes, g...more »

*Michael Hayden, NYT*: *To Keep America Safe, Embrace Drone Warfare* “ARE you sure they’re there?” the decision maker asks. “They” are Qaeda operatives who have been planning attacks against the United States. “Yes, sir,” the intelligence analyst replies, ticking off the human and electronic sources of information. “We’ve got good Humint. We’ve been tracking with streaming video. Sigint’s checking in now and confirming it’s them. They’re there.” The decision maker asks if there are civilians nearby. “The family is in the main building. The guys we want are in the big guesthouse he...more »

*From* *Jenna Orkin* France Declares All New Rooftops Must Be Topped With Plants Or Solar Panels 1 in 3 Oil Producers Could Go Bankrupt in 2016: Deloitte Is Oil Wastewater A Cure For California’s Drought? There's a reason it hasn't been proposed so far. Coffee Tycoon's Ashes Interred In The Iconic Pot He Made Famous Scientists Print Human Ear "It Just Occurred To Me" - Trump Proposes Boycott Of Apple, While Tweeting From An iPhone 'Ransomware': The New Cyber Threat Targeting Hospitals and Police Departments VA suicide hotline sent callers to voicemail Egypt bombs Islamic State t...more »

The Clintons don't seem to get a simple point: Democratic primary voters hate when Democrats attack other Democrats. And now it isn't just Hillary's sleazy team of lobbyists, job-seekers and conservatives attacking Bernie, it's also Hillary herself. she uses the same basic debate tactics Cruz and Rubio use-- maybe she learned them when she was president of the Wellesley College Young Republicans. She slips in a quick attack on his character or his competence and then immediately says something like "but let's *please* talk about issues" and then throws out some policy issue that B...more »

Mike Blake / Damir Sagolj / Reuters / alessandro0770 / Shutterstock / Zak Bickel / The Atlantic *The Independent*: *The next world war will be in the South China Sea. Ask Thucydides...* *World View: Is this the dawn of the nuclear Doomsday we have lived in fear of?* Climb into my time machine and come fly with me two years into the future. Here we are, November 2018, with celebrations of the centenary of the end of the First World War in full swing. And we find ourselves part of the grand coalition that has just declared war on China. Throughout the noughties and beyond, the itch...more »

Members of a U.S. Air Force unit prepare to mount a nuclear weapon on a fighter aircraft in Kadena Air Base in Okinawa on Oct. 23, 1962. This photo was found in the National Archives and Records Administration of the United States. (Provided by the National Security Archive) *The Asahi Shimbun*: *Photos of nuclear weapons in Okinawa found in U.S. national archives* A U.S. think tank has found photos of nuclear weapons in Okinawa in the 1960s when the island was under U.S. rule. The National Security Archive (NSA) discovered three photos in the U.S. National Archives and Records Ad...more »

Military parade in Red Square. Wikipedia *Reuters*: *Russia could cut defense procurement spending: sources* The Russian government is considering a 5 percent cut in defense procurement spending this year, sources say, showing not even Vladimir Putin's plan to restore Moscow's military might is immune to the pain of a slowing economy. The president has made beefing up the military a national priority, and the fact it is up for discussion is a sign that no area is safe from budget cuts as Russia begins a second year of recession following a fall in oil prices and Western sanctions....more »

[image: Anti-fracking demonstration outside New York Governor Cuomo's office on October 9, 2012.] Progressive green groups thought they could have a nice quiet discussion about "leading the transition to clean energy" with two left-leaning state governors and a liberal billionaire -- they thought wrong. The Climate and Clean Energy: Why Young Americans Are Taking Notice...more »

*Robert Farley, National Interest*:* Why NATO Expected to Lose Most of Europe to Russia* *Cold War lessons on the promise—and nuclear peril—of escalation* A recent RAND wargame on a potential Russian offensive into the Baltics brought talk of a “new Cold War” into sharp focus. The game made clear that NATO would struggle to prevent Russian forces from occupying the Baltics if it relied on the conventional forces now available. These wargames have great value in demonstrating tactical and operational reality, which then informs broader strategic thinking. In this case, however, th...more »

*Let’s talk about the resolution proposed at the security council by Russia- The resolution, according to msm and alt media, that had everything to do with Turkey. And yet Turkey wasn’t even mentioned. Not named. Not cited. Nadda, nothing! * *Gee, I would think if this was about Turkey, Turkey would have been specifically mentioned? So, what gives? In case you didn't know, the resolution was soundly rejected. * *Read all the way through and I think you'll understand why* *The resolution was about respecting Syria's sovereignty:* *TodaysZaman * *“The Russian draft resolution didn't ...more »

*"When Your Beloved Pet Dies:* * "Until We Meet Again," "The Rainbow Bridge"* As you know it's not my habit to share details of my personal life here, but there will be a direct impact on this blog, so felt the need to explain. A few hours ago I lost the *truest* friend I ever had. Very suddenly my beloved boy Moose just toppled over and was gone. He had a heart full of pure love, and was the noblest spirit I ever knew, a far better being than me. Out of habit, or instinct I suppose, numbly doing what I do, I thought to share this material with you, maybe it'll comfort you in your ti...more »

[image: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on February 11, 2016 in Munich.] James Jeffrey, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, made a provocative assertion Tuesday when he said the burgeoning alliance between Iran, Russia and Syria is the primary problem facing the Middle East today. Speaking during a panel discussion for the launch of...more »

[image: Cameron: Britain's Referendum on EU Membership to be June 23] LONDON (AP) -- A historic referendum on whether Britain should stay in the European Union will be held on June 23, Prime Minister David Cameron announced Saturday, even as he declared his belief that the U.K. would be “safer and...more »

Let's see now. Pope Francis accused Donald Trump of behaving in a non-Christian fashion. Trump replied angrily that he is a devout Christian. And he proves it by pointing to his large, Christian following in those states, especially in the Deep South, where Christian evangelicals are numerous and powerful. By no coincidence, it is also the region that most hates Blacks, Latins, and anyone who is different. Similarly, he is also a man much in favour of killing masses of people in wars to make wealthy Americans wealthier. And he not only approves of torture, but would make it much mo...more »

[image: Clinton Edges Out Sanders to Narrowly Win Nevada Caucuses] LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Hillary Clinton edged out Bernie Sanders on Saturday in Nevada’s caucuses, capitalizing on a more diverse Democratic electorate to propel her to a crucial win in her presidential bid. Clinton prevailed in the third contest of...more »

[image: Protests to Rally Across US to Back Apple in Battle With FBI] SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Protesters are preparing to assemble in more than 30 cities to lash out at the FBI for obtaining a court order that requires Apple to make it easier to unlock an encrypted iPhone used by a...more »

[image: Libya Becoming New Front in Fight Against ISIS] BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) -- Libya is rapidly turning into a new front in the fight against the Islamic State group, which is heavily recruiting militants from abroad and trying to exploit years of chaos to expand its foothold in the...more »

[image: An unarmed U.S. Air Force LGM-30G Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operational test at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., Dec. 17, 2013. Col. Keith Balts, the commander of the 30th Space Wing, acted as the launch decision authority.] The Russian government is going to revamp some of its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in order to blow up asteroids before they reach Earth. Sabit Saitgarayev of the Russian Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau claimed during an interview with the Russian TASS...more »

[image: Royal Dutch Shell] A California congressman and two other representatives demanded Wednesday the government investigate Royal Dutch Shell for deceiving the public about the alleged dangers associated with man-made global warming. Democratic congressmen California Rep.Ted Lieu, along side Vermont Rep. Peter Welch and...more »

A man from Indiana is suing the manufacturer of his smart TV set over claims that the television is ‘secretly spying’ on him and passing confidential information onto third parties. Tent Strader has filed a 27-page lawsuit in Indianapolis where he accuses the Vizio smart television set as monitoring his viewing habits without his permission – collecting data illegally such as websites he has visited and products he has purchased online through the web-enabled TV. Dailymail.co.uk reports: According to court documents the televisions collect personal information through their ‘Smart ...more »

Conspiracy of Silence is a powerful yet disturbing documentary that reveals the horrific U.S. child sex abuse and pedophilia rings within the highest echelons of government. The documentary was banned from being aired in May 1994 when the Discovery Channel cancelled transmission amid pressure from top politicians. Wanttoknow.info reports: Featuring intrepid investigator John DeCamp, a highly decorated Vietnam war veteran and 16-year Nebraska state senator,Conspiracy of Silence reveals how rogue elements at all levels of government have been involved in systematic child sex abuse and ...more »

French President Francois Hollande has warned that a war between Russia and Turkey is a very real possibility due to the escalating tensions in Syria. Hollande has urged the two countries to avoid escalation before a World War breaks out. Pravdareport.com reports: “There is a risk of war between Turkey and Russia. One must to do everything possible to avoid an escalation,” Hollande said on France Inter radio station. According to him, the Syrian authorities and the opposition should resume talks as soon as possible. One should stop the bombings of Syria and provide humanitarian ass...more »

Pink Floyd star Roger Waters has publicly stated his support for the BDS movement, saying that celebrities are “scared s***less” to speak out about the issue of Palestinian rights due to fear that their careers will be destroyed. Waters says he has been constantly labelled as a ‘Nazi’ and ‘anti-Semite’ since speaking out against Israel. Independent.co.uk reports: “The only response to BDS is that it is anti-Semitic,” Waters told The Independent, in his first major UK interview about his commitment to Israeli activism. “I know this because I have been accused of being a Nazi and an ...more »

The founding Director of the CIA’s Counter-Terrorism Operations Center has confirmed that Saudi Arabia have up to seven nuclear bombs ready to use. The CIA asset revealed the information during a Fox News interview last week, and suggests that they can deliver these nuclear missiles via Saudi F-15 fighter jets. Superstation95.com reports: Last week, on “The Hal Turner Show” Mr. Turner told his audience that, based on his years of experience as a National Security Intelligence Asset with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, Saudi Arabia is in possession of nuclear weapons. He also m...more »

An Apple executive has issued a scathing attack on the U.S. government’s request for greater access to its software – saying that the FBI’s demands to have a virtual backdoor on its devices is worse than the Chinese government’s demands. Apple and the U.S. government have become embroiled in the latest privacy debate following a federal judge ordering Apple to assist the FBI in their access of a phone used by a San Bernardino shooter. The Guardian reports: Apple has refused, arguing that to do so would set a legal precedent that could force it to hack a suspect’s phone each time au...more »

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic unveiled a new version of its SpaceShipTwo space tourism rocket on Friday. Virgin spaceship VSS Unity is designed to take tourists into space. Its the first spacecraft to be tested since the deadly 2014 crash that destroyed the original rocket and killed one of the pilots. Virgin Galactic YouTube video: eTurbo News reports: The space line founded by Sir Richard Branson unveiled the craft at California’s Mojave Air & Space Port, where it was assembled. SpaceShipTwo is designed to be flown by a crew of two and carry up to six passengers on a high-spee...more »

Prime Minister David Cameron has announced plans for an in-out Europe referendum to be held on June 23, 2016. Amid an emotional plea to the British public to stay in the EU, members of the public and Cabinet Ministers alike have noted that Cameron’s argument for staying in has embarrassingly backfired – saying that upon hearing his speech they are more persuaded to leave. The Slog reports: These are the facts: We are being asked to decide on the deal before it’s been ratified Real reform of EC dictatorship is completely absent from the proposals The Government’s primary argument fo...more »

As Dave has fired the starting pistol for what is set to be a *very long* EU referendum campaign, his dear friend and alleged Tory intellectual Michael Gove has gone into print to explain why he's not backing the boss in the crucial crunch vote. And it's pretty much the usual stuff: the EU is a monster whose bureaucratic tentacles choke off innovation, research, opportunity, initiative, and sovereignty. Nevertheless, unless a politician gives a reason to think otherwise, Gove's piece should be taken at face value. His principles may be ashes in the mouths of the education workers h...more »

After Syracuse, New York congressional candidate Eric Kingson wrote a guest post last week explaining why he had endorsed Bernie, I decided to ask some of the progressive congressmen who we admire and respect to do a companion piece about why they had endorsed Hillary. I was stunned by the response. Virtually every Member I asked said something along the lines of "I'll pass; I'm sorry I endorsed her and I don't want to remind anyone." But yesterday-- right after Rep. Peter Welch announced he was endorsing Bernie and would be voting for him, as a super-delegate, at the convention, ...more »

B-1B Lancer bombers covering operations in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State/ISIS are to return to the U.S. for scheduled cockpit upgrades, according to the USAF Central Command. Russia Today reports: With the B-1 taking a back seat, the campaign may lose a “little flexibility,” but the USAF has plenty of other aircraft to compensate for the deficit, Lt. Gen. Charles Q. Brown, who heads the command, told journalists from his HQ in Qatar. Brown said the bombers would return to Iraq and Syria, but didn’t provide any timetable. About 80 percent of airstrikes against IS targets a...more »

Residents in Fiji have been warned to seek refuge in evacuation centers amid a state of emergency, as one of the strongest storms on record lashes the Pacific island. Cyclone Winston is a Category 5 hurricane, and deadly wind speeds of up ot 325km per hour have been reported. Aljazeera.com reports: Fights have been suspended and the prime minister has urged people to seek shelter from the storm, expected to be country’s most powerful on record. After twice drenching outlying islands in nearby Tonga last week, Cyclone Winston reintensified on Saturday and was bringing winds of 230kph...more »

This is quite a listen... It's Stephen Nolan on Radio 5 Live completely misunderstanding a caller's point and becoming quite beyond satire in the process: I think this whole debacle can be put down to that strain in BBC thinking which assumes that *anyone* who wants to control immigration *must* be a racist.

The next couple of items on today's *From Our Own Correspondent *were 'very BBC' too. First was a piece from Fergal Keane about a Bosnian town where Serbs massacred Muslims during the Balkans War. It was pure Fergal Keane - emotive, somewhat finger-wagging. I know it's cynical of me but the phrase 'award winning' and its cousin 'award-seeking' just keep coming to mind whenever I think of Fergal Keane reports like this. Then came an American journalist talking about gun control. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the issue, what's pretty much guaranteed on *From Our Own Corresp...more »

*Warning*: *This post contains almost as few funny, clever jokes as Will Self's From Fact to Fiction tonight.* Here's a cautionary tale for anyone who fancies monitoring the BBC News Channel to see if it's providing balanced coverage of the EU referendum debate. I read a comment somewhere today saying that, having just watched the 1pm News on the BBC News Channel for 30 minutes, there hadn't been a single representative of the Leave camp asked to comment. Someone from the Remain campaign had appeared though, and there had been extracts from the PM's speech and a Jeremy Corbyn int...more »

*"Your Radiation This Week, Feb 13 to Feb 20, 2016"* By Bob Nichols "I didn't say it would be easy. I just said it would be the truth." - Morpheus (San Francisco) February 20, 2016 – "Good Day, this is “Your Radiation This Week.” These are the recorded Radiation Highs that affected people this week around the United States and in your neighborhood. Let’s get right to it. Twenty-one [21] cities exceeded 1,000 CPM this week in Your Rad Weather. There are Thirteen (13) cities between 900 and 999 CPM. *All Radiation Counts reported are partial Counts. Uncounted types of radiation incl...more »

The man after whom the 'selfie' was named In the spirit of Will Self today... Zut alor!! Wot ze 'eck wos zis veek's *From ze Fax to ze Fixion *on abart on your BayBayCay Radeeoh Quatre? And if* you *felt any twinge of embarrassment on reading that last sentence then you'll know how *I* felt listening to Will Self's god-awful *Popping Out *this evening. My toes are still uncurling themselves. Radio 4's favourite prolix, opinionated popinjay Will Self wrote it and acted it himself. It was Self, self, self all the way. The only thing he didn't do was sing the theme tune. And as on...more »

*First, I had a bit of a relapse of having a severe cold these last few days.. That and over the last few days as well I have been suffering from a bit of insomnia.... I do believe that it is from being overworked and very run down...My better half has recommended that I take more time for rest and relaxation, and I may yet take her advise...But in the meantime, I have a few articles that I wanted to put up here at this blog to "catch up" on what has been happening around our sick world this last while.... And yes, things are definitely heating up!* Everyone knows by now about that ...more »

By Paul Homewood http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/02/20/the-guardians-dana-nuccitelli-uses-pseudo-science-to-libel-dr-john-christy/ You may recall that Dana Nutticcelli ran a piece in the subsidised, left wing Guardian the other day, which attempted to debunk John Christy’s testimony to Congress. The deluded drones who read the Grauniad naturally sucked it all up. I did not respond at the time because I […]

According to Saudi political analyst Dahham Al-‘Anzi, Saudi Arabia has obtained a nuclear bomb. Al-‘Anzi has told RT’s Arab network that the Saudis acquired the bomb two years ago and that a nuclear test is expected soon. He also claims that ‘the superpowers know about this’ Al-‘Anzi made the claim while saying that the Kingdom is engaged in an effort to minimize the ‘Iranian threat’ in the Levant and Syria Infowars reports: Although Saudi Arabia has officially denied it has a nuclear weapons program and has publicly stated it opposes nuclear weapons in the Middle East, it has fu...more »

*Be careful the company you keep.* *An excerpt from, "Madman Erdogan Trying to Pin Ankara Massacre on YPG Kurds of Northern Syria, Despite Blatant False Flag by Turkish Intelligence" by Webster Tarpley, February 19, 2016:* To underline once again that Turkey is the main sponsor of and haven for terrorists of many stripes, a group of 500 jihadi killers was reportedly on its way from the Turkish border towards Azaz, the key to the road from Aleppo back into Turkey. If Azaz is taken by the Kurds, many terrorists will be cut off and eliminated before they can return to their privileged...more »

[image: immigration3 - 900] U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are soon going to have to level with Congress about a federal contractor handing free smartphones to illegal aliens released from detention centers. Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and...more »

In keeping with my series on Chasing Footnotes, I have found a subtopic that is almost as interesting (well, it is to me) which is finding original sources (which, of course, is sort of the same thing). Not all that long ago I ran across an analysis of the Roswell case in which it was claimed that Captain Darwin Rasmussen (later Colonel) had assisted Major Jesse Marcel in recovering the alien bodies. I have never heard anything like that and it puzzled me because, as far as I knew, only Stan Friedman and I had interviewed Rasmussen’s cousin, Elaine Vegh. Now that you all are thoroug...more »

The beating of a woman has led to an insurrection by Sunni tribesmen in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. Anti-ISIS fighters fought with militants after a local woman was targeted by the extremists for not wearing the right garb and showing some skin on her hands. NBC reports: “The clashes started when tens of Fallujah men stood against ISIS militants who started to beat a woman in a Fallujah market because she was not wearing gloves,” said Sabah Karhoot, the chairman of the governing council of Anbar province where the city is located. “Therefore, the men could not stand and do nothing.” ...more »

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I've been 'around' for a few years now, pursuing the shifting goal of a sharable home-made surfers resource site focused on ease of use and variety of mostly adult ( whoa : I didn't say prurient ) content.